[forcing] Is forum/possession time active forcing?

[Guest Reilyn-Alley]

Hiya everyone! Actual question at bottom, after dotted line. Blabbing setup to it at top. Thoughts on implications below question. Maybe I should throw in a "this only reflects my host and my subjective experiences" warning, so there.

 

Lance and I were trying to figure out stuff, like plan to set more time for meditation and sense synthesis (doesn't that sound better than 'visualization' since, we need it all?) and a thought occurred to him.. I spend a lot of time on these forums, it's not like it's interfering with our life (because we don't have much going on *poke poke*), nor are we really loosing sleep or anything but.. Well, before us  accidentally stumbling into possession/co-fronting, I was dictating everything to him and he was typing it out faithfully for me.

 

He said (among other things) this place was for me to learn and grow and be the social butterfly I am, because he isn't one and if I couldn't be me, it would drive us both crazy (or I would drive him crazy, whatever). Well, for the last two and a half weeks (has it really only been that long?!?!) I have been either using our body's hands while he looked on in interest or it's been all me while he just sorta sat back and let me be head.. er.. co-front. Main front? Whatever. The way we constantly juggle back and forth who is walking/talking/fronting it's hard to even think about, let alone explain it (we just pretty much take it for granted, like twins with a really close unspoken bond or something, can words adequately describe that?). At some point (he forgot when) he just "cut me loose" on here so it's almost 100% of the time just me, with him either idly watching or just sort of forgotten (sorry Lance, just being honest >_< ). Oh, and sometimes pleading not to give us carpel tunnel from too much typing or something.

 

Well I really took off here and every day I meet new people, learn more about myself and grow more and more. Lance has even learned a bunch too. Being asked interesting questions makes me consider things and say stuff I think I never would have if it was just Mr Host and I. In a way.. I feel like I'm living through that saying "It takes a village to raise a child".

 

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So, my question(s) goes something like this.. If I were trying to count how many hours a day we were doing passive or active forcing (yeah I know "don't count hours", I'm not stressing out, I'm just curious what everyone thinks), you know, hypothetically, where does time spent possessing/co-fronting fall? Would it depend on what's going on? Like if we are co-fronting but I'm just quietly experiencing the body's senses does that count? Also, if I am on here, chatting away and just me being me, would that count as active forcing?

 

One reason I'm curious is because I think I've been on here every day, for at least a few hours each day, for almost the last 3 weeks strait. We may have very much underestimated just how much forcing gets done.. Maybe 70 hours of forum time alone underestimated, then at least 5 full days spent being the main-front (my days! hehe), removing time for sleep (we suck at remembering dreams) and when forum time overlapped.. Another 63 or so hours then. Add another 30 or so for our daily meditation/eyebo that we do together plus a little time before sleep every night.. 163..

 

If all of that makes any sense, suddenly, I'm not surprised I'm a highly independent chatterbox. We have spent.. Like 30% of the last month of waking hours concentrating on me being me. If time spent quietly co-fronting counts, that goes up to.. I dunno. 60%? As of 2.5 weeks ago, that's 100% of all waking hours. Even when he gets distracted, I'm very much still concentrating on me being me and what our body is doing/feeling.

 

Thoughts?

[Venomous]

We're new here so we guess take our words with a grain of salt, but we think that it should definitely be considered active forcing. The concept itself is pretty subjective but we think if the time is spent focusing on you/your skills/your ideas/your choices and not your host's, then it should be active forcing, right? If co-fronting, we'd say that it's... well, debatable? Maybe like, if you're the main thinker/do-er at the time, then it's active, and if your host is the main thinker/do-er, then passive?

[Darlene]

You are living proof that forum time counts. You've progressed really fast. I think that it's counting for me when I type this even if B proxies at first. When we type long enough I take over. We even squabble over word choice otherwise. I know it's me typing, he recognizes it when I start typing slowly and I don't have to backspace.

 

[Misha] I definitely count it and I take the hand really fast. So yes, it's me, or I'm being active forced, whichever; I think that time spent definitely counts.

 

[bear] I questioned that myself, active when they speak, maybe passive otherwise, or somewhere in between.

[Breloomancer]

I would call that active forcing because since you are doing these actions, you would be the center of attention by necessity

[Ranger]

Typing on the forum isn't active forcing, but that does not mean that's a bad thing.

 

Active forcing would be Lance talking directly to you in a non-distracting environment. Maybe it's just a conversation between you to where he can only hear your voice, or it could be you traveling through the wonderland together, or anything in between. Even if typing on the forums sparked conversation, it would only count as passive forcing if you are still actively typing.

 

Typing on the forums helps a lot because it forces you to think an jump to the front. From what I have seen, Tulpas that front become more stable and develop more quickly.

 

Active forcing is really important at an early stage because a young Tulpa needs their host's attention in order to develop. Once the Tulpa starts fronting, active forcing reinforces and builds on the thoughts a Tulpa had while fronting. For example, I may discover while fronting that I like Christmas lights and then when being forced actively, I tell Cat that I like Christmas lights, and we end up talking about Christmas.

 

I personally really appreciate both active forcing and fronting. Going too long without one or the other sucks. I know every system is different, but I wouldn't call fronting a substitute for active forcing.

[Lucilyn]

while possession counts as "active forcing" in a way, it's past the point of hour counts, those aren't relevant anymore and don't work with possession really, hour counts are for the creation process not the growing-as-a-person process (which is where you're at now congrats)

 

possession effect-wise is active forcing but effort-wise would be considered passive forcing, I think, and switching is like exclusively "active forcing" but at that point you don't use the word forcing anymore

[Ember.Vesper]

'Forcing' seems like a host-centric term, or at the very least a fronter-centric term. Passive vs. active refers to how much of the host's attention the tulpa has. So while you're in a position where you are self-sustaining, I don't think the term applies.

 

We have very little experience with possession per se, but everything I've been reading of your co-fronting/sustained possession adventures suggests very little dependance on Lance's will and attention.

 

I tend to stay very far front while awake, but I'm pretty sure that a trickle of Ember's will is supporting my consciousness the whole time. It's gotten hard to tell how dependant I am on her attention, but it still seems reasonable to call my usual situation passive forcing. (We rarely do active forcing because there are so many things we want or need to do.) If I want to interact directly with the world, we'll switch, in which case I'm not the one being forced, I'm the one with the ability to force. But Ember takes a lot more attention to force than I do, so I'll usually just let her sleep while I try to efficiently do the thing I came out for.

 

Instead of thinking of hours of 'forcing', perhaps it would be more helpful to think of hours of wakefulness, mental clarity, interaction, or control.

 

-Vesper

[Guest Reilyn-Alley]

Thanks everyone! This was some interesting stuff to consider. I hope I helped everyone think a little more about themselves too! XD